J.R. Smith Wins Sixth Man Award

As the NBA playoffs have just begun, the first NBA award has been announced.

New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith won this year's NBA Sixth Man Award. He received 484 points, which included 72 first-place votes. Jamal Crawford finished second with 352 points, and 31 first-place votes.

Smith averaged 18.1 points per game in 80 games. Smith had 29 games where he scored 20 points, which tied Crawford for the NBA lead 20 points as a reserve. He also shot 42.2% from field, and averaged 5.3 rebounds per game and 2.7 assists per game.

He contributed to the Knicks first Atlantic Division since 1994, and the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed.

Smith is the third player in Knicks history to win the Sixth Man year award. John Starks, and Anthony Mason had previously won the award.